The Diablo III Website has updated Public Test Realm Patch version 1.0.5 for the upcoming patch for Blizzard's action/RPG sequel. A number of additional planned changes are highlighted, including a doubling of legendary item drop rates.

I disagree with the loot in TL2 being more fun. Obviously what D3 did with the rarity of the legendary/set items was wrong... but the way TL handles it is not right either. Everyone's eyes glaze over when they see "colors" on their loot... but if it ALL has crazy amounts of stats on it, then NONE of it is "special".

You have to wait just as long for a truly unique item to drop in TL2 (after 40+ hours of play time, i'm not talking about in the first hour...), it's just harder to recognize those drops in D3. You also have very little in the way of options for selling your unwanted but "awesome" gear. Playing on Elite difficulty certainly makes it more entertaining, but then everyone complained about how hard Inferno was...

The underlying appeal to Diablo 2 was the chat/online aspects of it. Most people were experiencing those features in a game for the first time ever. It created communities and a real trade market. The actual game was pretty boring. I don't have this fond memory everyone else seems to of getting tons of good loot drops. I do remember doing run after run after run waiting for a SoJ to drop so I could trade it to someone that actually DID win the RNG.

I agree that the top down hack-n-slash market is totally stale at this point. TQ was cool, but I still think DS2 was the best one ever made. What's better than equipping one person with random loot drops? Equipping 4 at the same time!

Somewhere between the polish of combat and online features in D3 and the random "fun" of loot drops and map generation in TL2... I'm sure there is a good game.

Unfortunately, neither of them has pulled it off just yet. Blizzard patching and TL2 mods will rapidly merge the feature sets, that I'm sure of.

Path of Exile looks cool. Hopefully the hyped features of that game actually make it in, and don't get cut at the last minute like Blizzard did with the Skill Runes.

And you have ascertained this from a few lines written by OP? Or is it that this bloke doesn't agree with you?

At least he isnt a sheep. Bleh bleh back to your herd in case you have original idea.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm getting a little tired of this whole "sheep" thing.Yeah, I get it, I know why it's used, but . . .No one has tried to come up with anything new. It's no longer original. It's just old, and worn out.Something that's trotted out when another way to convey the concept behind "sheep" cannot be thought up.Dare I say, calling someone "sheep" is being a sheep yourself, since it involves no originality in doing so, and just follows the "you're a sheep" crowd down the same old path that so many others have used?

HorrorScope wrote on Sep 28, 2012, 21:14:That is why I would like Project Eternity or whatever the name is to be a RPG with Coop. We will do what is needed on our side to make it work. BG's had it etc. What gets my knickers is the SP guy who has a problem with having it as an option. I'm not saying get rid of SP.

I have high hopes for Project Eternity too I'm a sucker for old school DnD type games of any flavor usually.

HorrorScope wrote on Sep 28, 2012, 21:14:And there are very very very few non-mmo coop RPG's. Look now Dungeon Lords MMXXII was just released, a coop RPG, lol. Will they get it right this time?

Axis wrote on Sep 28, 2012, 21:02:I don't play co-op, I find it annoying at best - one guy is blasting through content, another is staring at every loot stat for an hour, one is half afk, etc.

Yeah I hear this one all the time. Yes as you say, I only play with the same group, we don't have that issue because of it. Yes if you play in pick up groups, then its a whole different beast. I wouldn't play it that way either and don't.

I'm all for server side characters and that does bring a lot more meaning to MP characters and PUGS in that world. Since I pretty much group with the same Joe's, its not a need for us, but it still is a great feature for the ARPG genre no doubt.

That is why I would like Project Eternity or whatever the name is to be a RPG with Coop. We will do what is needed on our side to make it work. BG's had it etc. What gets my knickers is the SP guy who has a problem with having it as an option. I'm not saying get rid of SP.

And there are very very very few non-mmo coop RPG's. Look now Dungeon Lords MMXXII was just released, a coop RPG, lol. Will they get it right this time?

HorrorScope wrote on Sep 28, 2012, 18:32:FWIW and honestly, playing TL2 on anything lower then Veteren is basically watching a movie. Their two bottom difficulties are insultingly easy. You deserved to challenge yourself more.

I totally agree man. I do stuff on normal to see if it's worth me putting the time in on higher difficulties. I love a good challenge, always do hardcore characters on games I dig. But the game has got to be worth my time and I can figure that out pretty quickly in ez modes.

Fair enough. I only play coop, not saying you do or not, I couldn't play this genre any other way.

I don't play co-op, I find it annoying at best - one guy is blasting through content, another is staring at every loot stat for an hour, one is half afk, etc. Since you are essentially playing a single player game with one or a few others with lan-multi like TL2, the frustration is not worth it and meaningless to me. Unless of course you have a few friends with the same mindset and pace as you to make it enjoyable, but for me this doesn't happen often enough to pursue it.

I do however prefer multiplayer groups with server side characters like D2 and PoE, but usually only all-out full groups endgame since endgame is loot hunt time.

Verno wrote on Sep 28, 2012, 20:17:The Outlander class needs some tuning too, I feel bad for people who start out with that one.

I think action RPGs in general need to break out of their mold.

I feel the Outlander is stronger then the engineer. Those Glaive's are ridonkulous in power, I haven't seen anything the engineer has that can compete with those.

The aRPG has an answer to it's Blue's it's games like Borderlands, Dragons Nest ect, they are all the same. The perspective makes the difference, it's the fresh air. One is immersive and AAA the other now is $20 or less Indy. Blizzard is the only one that can get away with yesterday's tech for $60.

Cutter wrote on Sep 28, 2012, 20:04:Yeah, I think it's just the art style of T2. I just can't stand cutsey cartoon styled graphics - and they looked pretty washed out at that. At least D3 has the right look to it - which seems to be about the only thing right with it.

The washed out look was one of the things I replied to in beta. The needed a contrast slider. Today there are injectors we can place within the games folder to add that missing contrast. At first glance that really did stick out.

I also get the above guy about the setting/story. It's basic. I play it to smash baddies and improve myself, that is pretty much all this genre is. For that I feel it does as good as any before it.

Still love the pet going to town to buy/sell.

Also the Low Health Warning needed a slider, whenever it goes off in the game it is almost always "too late for you".

Julio wrote on Sep 28, 2012, 19:51:TL2 has been a big disappointment to me as well, I've played the demo for 5 minutes and find it boring. D3 was better than TL2, scary enough - at least I got a week of playing time in D3.

To be fair, 5 minutes isn't exactly a lot of time to see what the game has to offer. Play an hour on Veteran with a melee engineer, it's pretty darned amusing to me I get people not liking the art style though, it's certainly not for everyone. The Outlander class needs some tuning too, I feel bad for people who start out with that one. In any case I made a couple of basic class mods for the first game and have plans to work on this one when they release the mod kit soon. My play time counter will probably at or beyond Diablo 3 and more importantly I've enjoyed that time a lot more. I feel like I spent a hundred plus hours of Diablo 3 waiting for the good stuff which never arrived.

I think action RPGs in general need to break out of their mold. I was really bummed to see countryside, then a desert and jungle just like Diablo 2. Diablo 3 follows mostly the same map formula there too. Something they did do right in Torchlight 2 was the loot. Fun to collect, lots of variety and tons of interesting ways to obtain, mix, gem and enchant everything.

Julio wrote on Sep 28, 2012, 19:51:TL2 has been a big disappointment to me as well, I've played the demo for 5 minutes and find it boring. D3 was better than TL2, scary enough - at least I got a week of playing time in D3.

Yeah, I think it's just the art style of T2. I just can't stand cutsey cartoon styled graphics - and they looked pretty washed out at that. At least D3 has the right look to it - which seems to be about the only thing right with it.

“That's it. You people have stood in my way long enough. I'm going to clown college!”

One playthrough on Veteran with an Outlander. Was fun, but that's enough for me. I burned myself out long ago with Torchlight 1 and its similar Map/Infinite dungeons system. I got my $20 worth, but at the moment I find it has very little replay-ability (for me anyway, I don't care for melee classes so that eliminates some of what the game offers). Maybe some impressive mods in the future will bring me back. One thing I found unfortunate is that not one single area in this game felt memorable, or felt like it had any soul, in any way, except maybe the destroyed Werewolf town.

HorrorScope wrote on Sep 28, 2012, 18:32:FWIW and honestly, playing TL2 on anything lower then Veteren is basically watching a movie. Their two bottom difficulties are insultingly easy. You deserved to challenge yourself more.

I totally agree man. I do stuff on normal to see if it's worth me putting the time in on higher difficulties. I love a good challenge, always do hardcore characters on games I dig. But the game has got to be worth my time and I can figure that out pretty quickly in ez modes.

Fair enough. I only play coop, not saying you do or not, I couldn't play this genre any other way.

HorrorScope wrote on Sep 28, 2012, 18:32:FWIW and honestly, playing TL2 on anything lower then Veteren is basically watching a movie. Their two bottom difficulties are insultingly easy. You deserved to challenge yourself more.

I totally agree man. I do stuff on normal to see if it's worth me putting the time in on higher difficulties. I love a good challenge, always do hardcore characters on games I dig. But the game has got to be worth my time and I can figure that out pretty quickly in ez modes.

Axis wrote on Sep 28, 2012, 18:00:So my post is more for everyone else who is already done with TL2, BL2, or even GW2, etc like myself who wants to see what a real ARPG feels like in the 21st century.

Wow do you ever blow through games. If I was that hard to satisfy, I'd definitely be a lot lot lot more picky dropping dollars. I really like TL2 and BL2, I like BL2 a little better, probably because I like FP perspective over top-down and why not? It's a ton more immersive and puts you in the world. Once there it's the same ARPG formula.

Ya Im pretty picky believe it or not, I only play RPG's, Arpgs and FPS's. I tend to stick to one FPS so I can hone the skills (I still clan when Ive the time), and I'll splurge on new games occasionally.

I played the crap outta BL1, and I didn't finish nor plan on finishing BL2 even thought I thought I would, got pretty tired of it unfortunately. TL2 finished normal and don't see myself doing any more of that. GW2 I did blow some serious time on initially, but I (and many people) do that on any mmo-type game.

If anything I wanna shit or get off the pot. I know what I like and what I'm looking for -- If I play the hell outta it and want more, it's a good game. Otherwise it's no different than a couple nights at the movies.

dj LiTh wrote on Sep 28, 2012, 16:03:I'll say it as well. TL2 is pretty boring indeed. Not happy with the state of d3, but to say that TL2 is better is just being jaded and having no clue about better ARPG's that came before such as Titan Quest. On its worst day d3 beats TL2.

I like TL2 better then TQ and by a good stretch. TQ wasn't all that, even though I know many think it was. Face it they are all very similar and ARPG's are a shallow experience. There is a reason why there was a war of words back in the Diablo 1 days, it went from games like BG to D1 and many many many complained D1 wasn't a RPG and was the dumbing down of games then, consoles just took it even further.

D2 > TQ > D3 > TL2 there's nothing about TL2 thats better about any one of those games.